Monday, November 15, 2004
The healing power of bush medicines
If you grew up in the Caribbean you would most certainly be acquainted with bush medicines.Our grandparents/older folk would swear by the healing properties of herbs,leaves,roots and seeds that cured diseases which they contracted from time to time.Bush medicines have been used to 'cure' a variety of ailments ranging from high blood pressure to boils on the skin.Here,they swear that corilla,young breadfruit bush and young paw paw can temporarily reduce high blood pressure.
Some types of bush can be used to treat several diseases,for example corilla,while others such as vomit bush are used for only one disease. They use it to induce vomiting when a child is suffering from a bad cold.Two leaves are boiled with a large cup of water with a little sugar and given to the child who would vomit up all the contents of the stomach within a few minutes.
The white of an egg beaten and mixed with aloes was and is still used for people who have sustained falls and other accidents and who suspect they have "bruised blood" in their body.This treatment it is said would get rid of the condition.
There is never any proportion of water to bush,well not from what I observed.But,I recall being fed all types especially to deal with colds.Somehow,all the baby bush,trumpet bush,shine bush,buddy-me-eye,corilla and seed under leaf seemed to serve the purpose for which it was intended.
When it was fevers,it was hot green tea with lime or lemon grass.Rain bush was put on your skin to draw out the fever. And the list goes on,guinea pepper,aniseed and ginger for gas in the stomach,arrowroot,green tea and lime to stop diarrhoea.
Some of these things horribly bitter(part of a man life comes to mind) but when your family decide it is time for you to have a wash out you better be prepared to drink up.Just in case you wondering why am writing all this -the thing is I have this recurring stomach problem and am wondering which bush is a quick fire cure:)
Some types of bush can be used to treat several diseases,for example corilla,while others such as vomit bush are used for only one disease. They use it to induce vomiting when a child is suffering from a bad cold.Two leaves are boiled with a large cup of water with a little sugar and given to the child who would vomit up all the contents of the stomach within a few minutes.
The white of an egg beaten and mixed with aloes was and is still used for people who have sustained falls and other accidents and who suspect they have "bruised blood" in their body.This treatment it is said would get rid of the condition.
There is never any proportion of water to bush,well not from what I observed.But,I recall being fed all types especially to deal with colds.Somehow,all the baby bush,trumpet bush,shine bush,buddy-me-eye,corilla and seed under leaf seemed to serve the purpose for which it was intended.
When it was fevers,it was hot green tea with lime or lemon grass.Rain bush was put on your skin to draw out the fever. And the list goes on,guinea pepper,aniseed and ginger for gas in the stomach,arrowroot,green tea and lime to stop diarrhoea.
Some of these things horribly bitter(part of a man life comes to mind) but when your family decide it is time for you to have a wash out you better be prepared to drink up.Just in case you wondering why am writing all this -the thing is I have this recurring stomach problem and am wondering which bush is a quick fire cure:)
# posted by Abeni @ 1:09 PM 
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I definitely know about Bush medicine. Many Caribbean folk who've migrated to the US, still swear by these remedies. Between my Belizean mother and Vincentian father, I've had more bush remedies to cure every ailment than I care to remember. Most wer bitter and discgusting!
well I grow up on them bush things. cerasee fa this an that, aloes ta clean ya out. All them things used ta taste bad to me but I think they work.
Heard about the Paw Paw thing too. wintergreen leaf , wonda world leaf
Then of course you have the fish oils right, cod liver oil and worse still shark oil.
Heard about the Paw Paw thing too. wintergreen leaf , wonda world leaf
Then of course you have the fish oils right, cod liver oil and worse still shark oil.
Here we have all sorts of things, some of them I am not even familiar with.
Tamarind leaf for chiken pox itch, fever grass, kwakoo bush supposed to be good for skin disorders (can't say that I agree), white back, cerasee tea, bizzy tea (a cure all). There are more. Just goes to show how similar and different the culture in the various Caribbean territories are. Dr. D.
Tamarind leaf for chiken pox itch, fever grass, kwakoo bush supposed to be good for skin disorders (can't say that I agree), white back, cerasee tea, bizzy tea (a cure all). There are more. Just goes to show how similar and different the culture in the various Caribbean territories are. Dr. D.
# posted by 
: 5:36 PM
: 5:36 PM
Jd..blackfish oil is another one.Blackfish is a type of whale caught here and the oil is the wonder drug for colds etc..Thing taste horrible!
do any of you know a treatment for brown recluse spider bite? we live in Belize
# posted by : 4:58 PM
: 4:58 PM
Hi Abeni,
I recently went to Bequia, SVG for a practicum for nursing school. A group of 10 of us went, and we had an amazing time!
I am doing a paper on the use of bush medicine on Bequia, and came across your site when I googled "Bush Medicine and the Caribbean."
I talked to several older women who use bush medicine as you described, boiling bush for tea for a cold, etc.
It sounds like you and some of the people who responded to your bush medicine blog grew up taking bush medicine. Do you think, in your observations and experience, that young people are losing the knowledge that their parents and grandparents had? Are the younger people in the Caribbean favoring modern medicine over bush medicine?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Jennifer
Baltimore,MD
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
I recently went to Bequia, SVG for a practicum for nursing school. A group of 10 of us went, and we had an amazing time!
I am doing a paper on the use of bush medicine on Bequia, and came across your site when I googled "Bush Medicine and the Caribbean."
I talked to several older women who use bush medicine as you described, boiling bush for tea for a cold, etc.
It sounds like you and some of the people who responded to your bush medicine blog grew up taking bush medicine. Do you think, in your observations and experience, that young people are losing the knowledge that their parents and grandparents had? Are the younger people in the Caribbean favoring modern medicine over bush medicine?
I would love to hear your thoughts!
Jennifer
Baltimore,MD
Johns Hopkins School of Nursing
# posted by : 9:03 AM
: 9:03 AM
Hey Jennifer-I think bush medicines are slowly dying.For most persons the pharmacies are the first resort in time sof illnesses.I remember when I was growing up that my grandmother would boil some bush if we had a cold.Not so these days -its off to the pharmacy for Histal etc.I also don't think a lot of us young persons would even recognise most of the plants in their environs.I for one don't.so its dying out.
hi im from the Turks and caicos islands and bush medicine was the only medicine used over here untill recently n now most of the young generation dont know anything about it. its funny how pharmaceducal medication took over so quick. but the older folks still use snake stick toclen you out and fever grass and cod liver oil and some other stuff it
# posted by : 10:47 AM
: 10:47 AM
Hey, amazing topic. At present I am also conducting a research on this topic and I have and still is coming across some interesting findings. I am from Grenada and all the bushes mentioned above, well most of them I have come across in some way or the other. And I agree most taste horrible (that's wat makes me hate medication so much, so I try hard not to get sick). Froom observations I have found that many of the younger people rather contempoary med. over the alternative med. a.k.a. 'bush' and my quesion is why? I have found that the older generation is dying wit their knowledge of bush and their uses. The young ppl also believes that bush is too old timish and in a modern world we need modern med. I can go on and on but I gotta go now as I have my paper to write.
From Kelly
From Kelly
# posted by : 2:38 PM
: 2:38 PM
I agree that the older generation is dying out and taking bush remedies with them. The younger generation have no interest. I am a fervent believer in their uses as I have found out the benefits for myself.
# posted by : 4:47 AM
: 4:47 AM
Hi just recently i went to SVG for a few weeks and i was given a bush tea but i don't remember the name maybe someone can help me it looks like a light clear orange color and i think it starts with a c or s don't remember they say its to clean out your system and if i taste it taste very very bitter..Can someone help me out here? I do trust the person who gave it to me it was my husbands grandfather he got it up from the mountain so i know he is very into the bush medicine, ..thank you!
had a glass of cursee last night, had to add some sugar to it though,that thing is tooooo bitter, heard its good for you so i boiled some and drank it. It will not be my last glass.
# posted by : 3:03 PM
: 3:03 PM
Can anyone tell me if its bad for a pregnant women and if can affect the fetus
# posted by : 3:45 PM
: 3:45 PM
The Bush teas are bitter if they are boiled and a lot is used. If you steep a few leaves of corilla/creases it is not bitter at all. The fruit can also be used. The green bumpy fruit. That however is bitter. These teas taste great and peppermint Bush tea and ginger are great for upset stomach.
Caribbean girl
Caribbean girl
# posted by : 5:41 PM
: 5:41 PM
I'm from St.Vincent too, I wanna broaden my knowledgeabout bush uses and health generally.. it's a good feeling to know a fellow vincentian share similar interests: )
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